


Epilogue

by CirrusGrey



Series: A Matter of Diplomacy (Swords and Fire AU) [2]
Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Canon Asexual Character, Engagement, Fluff, Kissing, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Rated Teen for swears
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-05
Updated: 2020-09-05
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:54:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,810
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26305207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CirrusGrey/pseuds/CirrusGrey
Summary: Jon has a question to ask.
Relationships: Martin Blackwood/Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist
Series: A Matter of Diplomacy (Swords and Fire AU) [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1901050
Comments: 77
Kudos: 274





	Epilogue

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first of five follow up stories to A Matter of Diplomacy. The rest will be posted on upcoming Saturdays.
> 
> Also, it’s my hundredth published story, which is pretty exciting!

Early winter, and the frost on the windows wreathed a fine pattern of lace and fern across the glass. A fire blazed in the hearth, sending shadows dancing across the room and a wave of heat at the two figures curled under a blanket on the worn old couch.

“Martin?”

“Hm?” Martin lifted his head from where it rested on Jon’s shoulder.

“There’s something important that I want to ask you.” His hand found Martin’s under the blanket, thumb running back and forth across his palm. His eyes were fixed on the spot where they rested, a small lump under the heavy fabric.

“I’m listening.” He put his head back on Jon’s shoulder.

“Okay.” Jon took a deep breath. “We- we’ve been together… for a bit, now. Half a year, almost. I know that’s not-” He paused, frowning. “In the grand scheme of things that’s not a lot. But it feels like it is.”

“Agreed.” They’d settled into each other’s lives with ease, once the war had been stopped and Martin decided to stay. It felt like he’d been here for years, not just since the past summer.

“So I think it’s time- I, I mean. This is serious, then. F- for both of us.” His hand tightened spasmodically around Martin’s, and Martin squeezed gently back. He had a sneaking suspicion he knew what this was building up to.

“Yes. It is.”

“Th- then.” Jon bit his lip. “You should know- I mean, before you commit to, to this, to  _ me,  _ there are some things you should be aware of. That I should have told you… a long time ago.”

Martin sat up, giving him a curious look. The word  _ commit _ hadn’t escaped his notice, and he liked the implications of it, but Jon looked rather more nervous than he would have expected. “Such as?”

“Well, I don't- that is to say- ” he paused, considering his words. “You know we won't have an heir,” - and Martin’s heart leapt at the unspoken assumption that if they  _ did,  _ the child would be  _ theirs,  _ and yes, he was indeed right about where this was going - “I'll find someone with an affinity for this land to be the next Eye Lord, but for the Blackwood estate…”

“Jon,” Martin leaned in, kissing him gently, and his voice was soft even though his pulse had skyrocketed with excitement, “I've known there was a high chance I wouldn't be continuing the family line since I was eleven and I realized that if I ever married, I'd want it to be to a man. It's fine, I've got a cousin who can inherit, it's all sorted out.”

Jon jumped at the word  _ married, _ and Martin smiled. “No, that's not- there are certain- certain  _ behaviors  _ that- that are  _ associated _ with the production of an heir which I simply do not do.” He let go of Martin’s hand, pulling back to fiddle with the cuff of his sleeve. “We haven’t- and I’m  _ not  _ just- just waiting for marriage, or something. I just  _ don’t.” _

“Oh.” Martin took a moment to pull his head out of the clouds, and to work past the stuttering and false starts to figure out what Jon was  _ actually  _ telling him. Then he reached out a hand to cover Jon’s. "Jon. Have I crossed any boundaries?"

"What?” Jon froze for a moment. Then his eyes met Martin’s, and whatever reaction he had been expecting to see was obviously not this, because the tension drained out of his shoulders in a rush of breath. “Oh. No, of course not. I would have said.”

"Any you'll tell me if I cross any in the future?"

"Given past experience I'll scramble backward in a panic apologizing rapidly."

Martin's brow furrowed with worry. "That's not something you have to apologize for, Jon."

Jon smiled. "Believe me, I know. It's an instinctive reaction, Martin. I'll tell you if you cross any lines."

"Good." Martin breathed a sigh of relief, and leaned in. "I've got some questions, then."

"Of course." Jon's sigh in return was rather resigned. "Let's have them."

“You're okay with me kissing you. But do you  _ like _ kissing?”

Jon huffed. “Rather a lot, actually.”

Martin tipped his head forward, brushing his lips against Jon’s, and Jon let out a soft noise of protest when he pulled away without turning it into a true kiss. “How about holding hands? Cuddling?”

“Yes and yes.” Jon was blushing, glancing away, and Martin smiled. These clearly weren't the sort of questions he had been expecting, and his pleased embarrassment was quite frankly adorable.

“And you love me?”

Jon looked up, eyes wide. “More than anything.”

“That's enough for me.” Martin leaned forward, resting his forehead against Jon's. “That's better than my wildest dreams.”

Jon let out a relieved breath, slumping against Martin. “Mine too." He paused for a moment, then brought up a hand to cradle Martin's face. "Thank you.”

They stayed like that for a few minutes, just enjoying each other's presence, before Martin voiced the question that had been nagging at his own thoughts.

“What about you?”

“Sorry?”

“Are you- are you sure this is what  _ you _ want?” Yes, he knew Jon had made this particular choice long before he met Martin. And yes, Martin would probably make the same choice if he were in Jon’s place. Even so, if they were going to be…  _ committing  _ to each other… that made it more real. Made the decision feel much more irreversible, because it carried weight not just in Jon’s life, but in Martin’s too. “Being with me, living a mortal life? Not drawing on your power?”

“Why would I want anything else?”

“Because- Jon, you could- I mean, you could have  _ immortality.” _

“And that would be a grand thing,” Jon said. His voice was solemn, and the firelight struck a soft silver glow off his mage mark. “But it is utterly meaningless, when weighed against a lifetime spent with you.”

Martin's breath caught, and the words were out before he could stop them. “Jon, will you marry me?”

Jon blinked. “What?”

“Wait.” Martin raised a hand to his mouth, eyes going wide. So much for the solemnity of the moment. “Damn it. You were planning to ask  _ me _ that, weren’t you?”

“I- I- well, yes. And,  _ yes,  _ I’ll marry you.” Jon wriggled away from him, sliding out from under the blanket and onto one knee on the floor. He fumbled in his pocket for a minute before pulling out a ring, which he held up with a grin. “Will  _ you  _ marry  _ me?” _

“Only if you get back up here so I don’t have to leave the blankets to kiss you.”

Jon laughed, crawling back onto the couch and into Martin’s lap. Martin grabbed his shoulders and kissed him soundly, then pushed him back to the side. “Get under the blankets again, you’ll freeze out there.”

“Not with this fire.” Still, Jon crawled under the blankets and pressed back into his side. Martin stuck his hand out.

“Well?”

“Well what?”

_ “I  _ might not have planned ahead, but  _ you  _ have a ring.”

“Oh!” Jon’s eyebrows shot up his forehead. “Oh, right.”

“Yeah.”

Jon carefully took his hand, and slipped the ring over his finger. Martin held it up to admire. It was silver, inlaid with small green stones which… 

He looked closer.

...Yes, each stone had an eye carved on it. He smiled.

“More tokens?”

“Unfortunately not. I’m no jeweler, I had to have it specially made. Not  _ everything  _ with eyes is magical.” He paused, then added, with careful nonchalance: “Fiancé.”

Perhaps he wasn’t expecting Martin to tackle him back into the couch cushions and kiss him  _ quite  _ that enthusiastically. The noise he made certainly  _ sounded  _ surprised, but it was quickly cut off as Martin pressed him back, stoppering any further noises with the judicious application of lips and tongue.

Both were out of breath, when Martin finally pulled back a few minutes later. He offered a hand to help Jon sit up again, and Jon took it, looking rather dazed.

“That was, ah…”

“Too much?”

“More of a reaction than I was expecting. Definitely not too much.” Jon grinned at him. His hair was hanging loose around his face, disheveled by Martin’s hands. “Is that going to happen every time I call you that?”

“There is a high possibility that that is indeed the case.”

“Good to know.”

Martin tilted his head to the side, curious. “And is the reverse also true? Fiancé?”

Jon stared at him for a moment; then his eyes welled with tears.

“Jon?” Martin said, alarmed. “Jon, are you okay?”

Jon shook his head, slumping forward and pressing himself into Martin’s arms. His voice was unsteady, and muffled somewhat against Martin’s shoulder. “I love you so much.”

“I love you too.” Martin tightened his arms, holding Jon close against his chest. “I guess I’m going to have to be careful with my application of endearments, aren’t I?”

Jon laughed at that, though it was broken by a choked-off sob. “No, no, I’ll be fine. It’s just a lot, right now.”

“It is, at that.” Martin ran a hand down Jon’s back, listening to his breathing as it slowly steadied. “Georgie’s going to be so smug about this. She was saying we’d be engaged by the new year the second I told her I was staying.”

“I may have been rather more upfront in telling her how I feel about you than I was in telling you.” Jon pulled back a bit, smiling ruefully. His eyes were still watery, but his cheeks were dry, and there was no mistaking the look in his eyes for anything but joy. “The only question was how you’d respond.”

“Yeah… that was never really a question, for me.” Martin smiled back, and Jon leaned in to kiss him softly.

“Well, I know that  _ now.”  _ He leaned back, pulling Martin with him until his head rested on his shoulder again, and tugged at the blanket until it covered them from chin to toes. “We should go visit Raverra again soon. We can pass on the news in person instead of sending it along the courier lamps.”

“Sure you’re not just fleeing the weather?”

Jon shrugged, the motion displacing Martin for a moment until he resettled. “Maybe a little.”

Martin laughed. “Works for me. Your country is too damn cold.”

“Makes for better cuddling.” Jon wrapped his arms more securely around Martin, turning into him and burying his face in his hair. “And it’s  _ our _ country now. Fiancé.”

Martin froze. “Jon, you  _ know _ I have to kiss you again now, right?”

“You say that like it wasn’t my plan all along.”

“How devious.”

Jon laughed as Martin pushed him back into the cushions again, pulling the blanket with him as he went, trapping them in a small bubble of warmth against the chill of the night.


End file.
